155 



due to local influences. In 1844 Lieut. J. B. Hankey, of the 

 English Xavy, in a letter to Lovell Reeve, stated that he .sv//>- 

 the cowry dissolve its shell and in a short time secrete a thin 

 layer of glutinous matter, which in a few days attained the con- 

 sistency of shellac, its form being that of the Cymba. In 

 consequence of this extreme fragility, he was not able to 

 preserve any of the specimens. 



Unfortunately this observer does not say anything regarding 

 the interior structure of the renewed shell, neither has there 

 been any new light thrown upon this important matter by later 

 writers, and the only literature referring to the subject is that 

 the substance of which is here given. 



While the statement of Lieut. Hankey is strong evidence. :md 

 it is a recognized fact that the cowry, like many other mollusks, 

 does dissolve away portions of the interior structure of its shell 

 when more room is wanted, yet I am not prepared to fully accept 

 his statement, but rather favor the views expressed by Deshayes 

 and attribute the difference in size to local causes. Possibly the 

 larger shells ma}' be those of the female. 



The cowries are generally the first to attract the attention of 

 the amateur, mainly on account of their rich and brilliant 

 coloring ; and examples of the commoner species, principally C. 

 tigris, manufactured into a great variety of articles, are to be 

 found in many households. The natives of the Orient, especially 

 those belonging to the South Pacific Islands, use them largely 

 for personal adornment. In India the}' are used as trimmings 

 to various trappings for elephants and horses. The Cuprsea 

 moneta, or money-cowry, sometimes called the " prop shell," 

 passes current almost exclusively in some parts of Africa. For 

 this purpose many tons have been shipped from the Indian 

 Ocean, where the shell occurs abundantly. Mr. John C. Hertz 

 has published a memoir in the " Transactions of the Geographical 

 Society of Hamburg," on the use and diffusion of the cowry 

 shell as a medium of exchange. His father dispatched a vessel 

 to the Maldive Islands in 1844, for a cargo of cowries to be sold 

 to merchants for use in the West African trade. Xot finding as 

 many shells there as they had anticipated, they completed their 

 cargo with the larger and less valuable species of Zanzibar, 

 where the cowries are burned into lime. Several cargoes of 

 cowries were sent annually to Whydah and Lagos, where they 



